Social Media Best Practices: What to Do and What to Avoid [Infographic]

Are you following the social media best practices for your business?  Knowing how to effectively use social media to promote and build your brand is important. But trying to follow all of these "do's" and "don'ts" can be confusing.

Thankfully, The Core has created the wonderful infographic below to serve as a visual guide for the things your social media strategy should be focusing on and the areas to avoid.

Social Media Best Practices: What to Do

Focus on the people. It's not all about the money. You need to speak to your followers and engage with them, showing that they're a priority. If they have a good experience with you now, they'll be more likely to become a loyal customer in the future.

Publish content that is mobile-friendly. So many people use their smartphones to access social media sites and surf the web. Your website needs to be responsive to the device they're on or else they'll be quick to leave. And with Google's recent algorithm update boosting search rankings for mobile-friendly sites, it's become a must-have element for websites.

Build your reputation. Success with social media takes time and patience. Consistently doing things such as participating in conversations, answering messages, addressing people by their first name, and providing them with valuable content all help in building the brand reputation you want.

Social Media Best Practices: What NOT to Do

Ignore audience inquiries. This shows that you don't have a minute out of your day to answer a question and you might be missing out on future leads and customers. 

Talk only about your products. Social media isn't a platform for promoting your product and asking people to buy it all the time. It's about engaging with followers, providing valuable content, and showing interest in those around you.

Seek to become a celebrity. You shouldn't be looking to become a social media star, instead your focus should be on becoming a thought leader in your industry. Be knowledgable, helpful and friendly. The followers and reputation will come.

Try to be on EVERY social media platform that exists. This just isn't a smart strategy and it's not a good use of your time. Focus on the major platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram to build a following for your brand. This is where the people are.

Was this Social Media Best Practices Infographic helpful? Which Social Media "Do's" are you already doing? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!